Noida, Gr Noida home buyers delay shift to new homes due to money crunch

Builders, offering possession of the apartments to the buyers, say that many buyers have told them they will chose to wait till next year before they call a new abode their own.TNN | November 29, 2016, 08:32 IST

File photoNOIDA: Homebuyers in Noida and Greater Noida are not keen to shift to their new houses before January, in a bid to escape demonetisation hassles.

Builders, offering possession of the apartments to the buyers, say that many buyers have told them they will chose to wait till next year before they call a new abode their own.

In Noida and Greater Noida alone, more than 20,000 apartments will be up for possession by December 31. By March 31 2017, the handovers are estimated to be nearly 40,000.

“Demonetisation does not affect homebuyers directly as final payments are made by cheques. But shifting to a new home requires a lot of cash expenditure. The present priorities for people may be the year-end settlements of accounts or taking care of other urgent expenses,” Indrish Gupta, co-founder, Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association (Nefowa), said.

“All those builders who were working on procuring completion are ready with apartments and keen to handover. But it seems people are engaged in other practical concerns. Apartments which have already procured completion are mostly on track and ready for handover, as was estimated previously,” Amit Modi, vice-president, The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, (CREDAI Western UP) told TOI.

Meanwhile, some buyers complain that a section of builders are using demonetisation as an excuse to delay handovers. “The older lot of buyers who were already on a wait, may have to wait some more because such builders who were already slow, are now using the lack of cash as another excuse to slow down work,” Shweta Bharti, general secretary, Nefowa, pointed out.

“We will take up the cause of those buyers who were supposed to get their houses by December-end, but may not get the delivery,” Abhishek Kumar, president, Nefowa, added.

However, Credai members allayed the buyers’ claims. “Despite the demonetisation drive, work has not been affected at the construction sites of builders who are targeting timely completion,” Modi assured.